Dilemmas aplenty: Susan Aderin (Mama) and Yetunde Oduwole (Sis Ronke). Picture by Ade Omoloja
Play: Pandora’s Box
Theatre: Arcola Tent
Playwright: Ade Solanke
Review by Andrea Enisuoh
When Pandora’s Box was first showcased by African theatre company Tiata Fahodzi, playwright Ade Solanke was hailed as a new “enjoyable female presence” in British theatre. Her exploration of education and discipline were themes theatregoers from many cultures could identify with.
More acclaim followed, but the play never really received the exposure many felt it deserved. That could change after Pandora’s Box’s recent premier at Arcola Tent.
British-Nigerian mother Toyin (Anna-Maria Nabirye) has a dilemma. Nearing the end of her holiday in Lagos with her wayward son Timi (Bradley John), she has a decision to make. To return with her son to the inner London craziness that has him going off the rails, or to leave him in a strict Nigerian boarding school, where discipline is meted out with beatings rather than negotiation.
It’s a tough decision and one everyone has an opinion on. Everyone, that is, except Timi who is oblivious to the heated debates taking place around him. Particularly keen to offer her view is Toyin’s sister Ronke, played by Yetunde Oduwole, who is disdainful of the liberal way Toyin has raised her child. But it soon becomes clear that Ronke has other reasons to be resentful of her sibling.
Then there is Ma Ronke. Though living in London, she is adamant that her grandson could benefit from some good old Nigerian discipline. Even Toyin’s Caribbean best friend Bev (Petra Letang), who has accompanied them on the trip, has a view, and a piece of information that may help her friend make her decision.
The play’s strength is that it deals with emotive issues, of discipline, education and parenting, in a balanced and non-judgmental way. Yes the women in the family are vocal, but we are also presented with a male perspective through Ma Ronke’s brother Baba (Olatunji Sotimirin).
On the surface a comedy character that has the audience laughing every time he takes centre stage, Baba also makes some deeply pertinent points. Why uproot Timi from England to send him to a boarding school modelled on English colonial ways? Why send him to a Nigeria that many Nigerian’s want to escape from?
The strongest argument for and ironically against leaving Timi in Nigeria comes from Tope, a friend of Timi’s from “back in the day” who himself was left by his mother at the Nigerian boarding school. Played with exquisite comic timing by the talented Damson Idris, Tope gives both sides of the story.
Yes he resented his mother for abandoning him. Yes the school is tough, discipline harsh and the principal a psycho, but he has never been more proud of his educational achievements.
While Tope revels in the nostalgia of his early years in London and eyes enviously Timi’s Western clothes and trainers, he is equally disturbed by the turn his old friend’s life is taking.
While Toyin agonises and vacillates over the decision she has to make, humour and political observations form the backdrop that prevent this play becoming little more than just clichéd observation.
From Tope, whose eye rolls, gasps and sheer physicality are inherently hilarious to Bev, the Caribbean friend keen to discover her African roots, to Principal Osun, the terrifying head teacher played by Ben Onwukwe, each character has the ability to make you smile and think in equal measure.
In Pandora’s Box, Ade Solanke has created a play about choices, education and the “new Nigeria” that makes you laugh, think and laugh again.
Pandora’s Box is on until 26th May at Arcola Tent.